Baltimore officer acquitted over Freddie Gray death

BALTIMORE, Maryland: The Baltimore policeman facing the most serious charges in the death of Freddie Gray was acquitted on Thursday (Friday in Manila), in a case that sparked riots last year and fueled a national debate over how US police treat young black men. This time the trial was for the officer who drove the van in which Gray was being taken to a police station and suffered an ultimately fatal spine injury. Caesar Goodson was acquitted on all charges including second-degree murder and manslaughter. Goodson was the third of six officers charged over the death of the 25-year-old, which triggered riots in Maryland’s largest city last year. No guilty verdicts have been handed down in the three trials. Because the state failed to meet its burden of proof in any of the seven charges against Goodson, “the verdict on all counts is not guilty,” Judge Barry Williams, who presided over the case, told a packed courtroom.
AFP